January 9, 2018

Image credit: Channel 4 News via YouTube

Toby Young, who recently resigned from the Office for Students following controversy over his appointment, has plans to further involve himself with education in Cambridge. His Knowledge Schools Trust, which currently operates one secondary and three primary schools, is set to open the Cambridge City Free School sometime after 2020.

Both Young and the Knowledge Schools Trust advocate free schools and knowledge-based education, with the Trust’s website stating that “Factual knowledge and critical thinking are complementary”. The Trust was approved by the Department of Education in April last year to open the school in Cambridge, with the site most likely to be located adjacent to the city’s airport in the east.

Regarding the approval, a Department for Education spokeswoman said: “The Knowledge Trust has a strong record of standards for pupils and the proposals for the Cambridge City Free School were approved because it will offer greater choice for parents when it opens.”

Young voiced this passion for free schools in his recent announcement of resignation from the Office of Students, which was published in Spectator magazine: “My appointment has become a distraction from its vital work of broadening access to higher education and defending academic freedom. Education is my passion and I want now to be able to get on with the work I have been doing to promote and support the free schools movement.”